Chris Paul and Daryl Morey took aim at the referees for a horribly blown call in overtime of the Houston Rockets’ win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night.
The Rockets came back from down by 20 points early in the second half to win 135-134 in overtime on an improbable James Harden 3-pointer. Harden’s Rockets wouldn’t have even been trailing in the game if not for a horribly blown call.
The refs didn’t call Kevin Durant out of bounds even though he so blatantly was, which allowed him to save a ball and send it to Stephen Curry, who made a shot to break a 132-all tie. Durant even took multiple steps while out of bounds.
The unbelievably blown call was noted by Paul, who is out with a hamstring injury, and the Rockets’ GM. Both made references to “Bird Box,” a Netflix movie where people wear blindfolds.
There is no excuse for blowing a call that badly. It’s up there for one of the most badly blown calls we’ve seen in a long time, and we’ve seen some truly awful calls.
Rajon Rondo unloaded on Chris Paul on Tuesday in the wake of both players being suspended for the fight they got into during Saturday night’s game, and Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey has seemingly come to the defense of his star point guard.
Rondo, who was accused of spitting at Paul before the two traded punches, told ESPN on Tuesday that he did not intentionally spit on Paul and was simply “exasperated” while trying to tell CP3 to get out of his face. He also said he’s not surprised that Paul got suspended for two games compared to Rondo’s three, as the Los Angeles Lakers guard said people have a false impression of the type of person Paul is.
“Everyone wants to believe Chris Paul is a good guy,” Rondo said. “They don’t know he’s a horrible teammate. They don’t know how he treats people. … He comes out and says I spit and the media sides with that.”
Not long after Rondo’s remarks were published, Morey posted a not-so-subtle message on Twitter.
The implication, obviously, is that Rondo is the pot calling the kettle black, or being a hypocrite. Rondo has been accused of being a difficult player for coaches and teammates to deal with, which is something we know Ray Allen would attest to.
Daryl Morey’s Twitter account continues to be the gold standard.
On Friday, the Houston Rockets general manager came across a tweet that dissed his team. A Twitter user had posted a pair of selfies with the caption, “What’s worse than a heartbreak?” That prompted a reply from /r/NBA that read, “Missing 27 straight threes in Game 7 of the Conference Finals.”
It’s an obvious and ruthless reference to the Rockets’ historic cold streak from downtown that sank them in the decisive game of this year’s Western Conference Finals against the eventual champion Golden State Warriors.
Morey tweeted back with a funny claim that “it was only 25 straight.”
Unfortunately though, Morey appears to be relying on some alternative facts here, as 27 straight missed threes was, in fact, the accurate number.
The Rockets at one point had missed 27 straight 3-pt FG tonight.@EliasSports tells us that's the most consecutive missed 3s in a playoff game in NBA history.
Carmelo Anthony officially joined the Houston Rockets on Monday, and it was apparently the culmination of four years of effort.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey showed off artwork done by Deadpool creator Robert Liefield — at Morey’s request — of Anthony in a Rockets uniform all the way back in 2014.
At the time, Anthony had opted out of his contract with the New York Knicks. He ultimately re-signed with the team on a five-year deal despite a heavy push from Houston. Four years later, Morey’s goal has finally come to fruition, and it’s fair to say Houston is much closer to a championship now than they were then, so it all worked out.
Daryl Morey will not be leaving the Houston Rockets for the Philadelphia 76ers.
The New York Times’ Marc Stein reported on Monday that Morey rebuffed the Sixers’ interest in him for their GM job.
The Philadelphia 76ers have been rebuffed in their attempt to hire away Houston's Daryl Morey to take over as their new general manager, @NYTSports has learned
Philly has a very attractive position given all the young talent on the team. They appear to be well-positioned to contend for Eastern Conference titles for years to come. But Morey has been the Rockets’ GM since the 2008 season and has helped maneuver the team into serious NBA title contention. He would seem to have little motivation to leave the team he has built, especially when they’re so close to breaking through. He doesn’t seem to be the type of guy to easily give up on an obsession.
The Golden State Warriors once again trailed by a wide margin at halftime on Monday, and they were still able to come away with a win and book a return trip to the NBA Finals. Given the way Game 7 went, you can understand why some of the Houston Rockets side felt like they gave it away.
Daryl Morey certainly believes that. After his team’s loss at the Toyota Center, the Rockets general manager congratulated Golden State on Twitter. He later told reporters that he felt Houston should have won the game.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey: "We should have won tonight. I don't have much else to say."
It’s easy to feel that way after watching your team go on an unprecedented cold streak shooting the basketball. The Rockets took a 54-43 lead into halftime, but they did not make a single 3-pointer in the third quarter and missed a truly mind-boggling amount of consecutive 3-point attempts.
Morey made no secret about the fact that he wanted to knock off the Warriors, but Chris Paul’s hamstring injury was simply too much to overcome. The lack of veteran leadership hurt the Rockets and prevented them from being able to focus when things weren’t going their way. Golden State capitalized on that and is heading to its fourth consecutive NBA Finals because of it.
Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey is ready for a slugfest with the Golden State Warriors.
Soon after his Rockets closed out the Utah Jazz in Game 5 on Tuesday to set up a Western Conference finals series with the Warriors, Morey sent the following tweet:
The tweet contains a GIF of two Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots fighting. The implication is clear: these are two titans that will be meeting in the ring and taking big shots at each other.
Houston finished with the best record in the regular season at 65-17 and has homecourt advantage over the Warriors. The Rockets went 2-1 against Golden State in the regular season, but the playoffs are entirely different. This could turn out to be a series for the ages.
